To actively promote gender equality and the leadership roles of FAWL’s members in the legal profession, judiciary and community at large. To achieve these goals, FAWL will uphold the highest standard of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession, promote reform in law, and facilitate administration of justice.

Strategic PlanApproved by the Board of Directors on January 31, 2018Download a copy

Support women lawyers in achieving leadership positions within the law in law firms and in local bar organizations, the Florida Bar, and the American Bar Association.

Create and offer programs for the more experienced attorneys who have succeeded in the profession to entice more participation and to foster mentoring relationships.

Participate in Annual Leadership Summit.

Promote and support FAWL members' participation in the Florida Bar Leadership Academy and other similar leadership training programs.

Goal: Uphold the highest standards of integrity, honor, and courtesy in the legal profession.

Recognize law firms and judges who uphold this portion of the mission and who are strong advocates for women in the legal profession.

Create tools for chapters to identify and award these law firms and judges.

Goal: Promote reform in law.

Identify and maintain contact points, or a “coalition” made up of female and male lawyers, to promote and educate about issues faced by women lawyers.

Determine probable causes for the attrition of women lawyers in the legal profession.

Goal: Facilitate the administration of justice.

Actively seek education and initiatives by The Florida Bar aimed at promoting gender equality within the bar and within the legal profession.

Encourage and support FAWL members to join bar leadership, such as The Florida Bar Board of Governors, sections, and committees.

Educate members regarding the inequalities of women in the legal profession, such as publish statistics on the imbalance of women’s pay in the legal profession.

OBJECTIVE TWO: To actively promote gender equality and leadership roles in the judiciary.

Goal: Promote leadership.

Educate potential judicial applicants/candidates on the prerequisites, application, and process.

Encourage members to apply or seek election for judicial positions and provide feedback to Judicial Nominating Committees and Office of General Counsel.

Create advancement plan for current women judges to achieve promotion from County to Circuit, Circuit to Chief Judge, Circuit to Appellate, or Circuit to Federal Court.

Goal: Uphold the highest standards of integrity, honor, and courtesy in the legal profession.

Recognize judicial members who uphold these portions of the mission.

Goal: Promote reform in law.

Educate Judicial Nominating Committee members, Office of General Counsel, and the press on implicit bias.

Encourage growth in FAWL and chapters’ judicial membership.

Educate chapters and judges about FAWL’s non-partisan bylaws and FAWL’s legislative positions, and their relationship to the judicial cannons.

Goal: Facilitate the administration of justice.

Continue to work with and improve the policies of the Judicial Nominating Commissions on a statewide basis.

Continue to create awareness of the importance of an independent judiciary through educational initiatives and implementation, such as the informed voters project, created by the National Conference of Women Judges.

OBJECTIVE THREE: To actively promote gender equality and leadership roles in the community at large.

Goal: Promote leadership.

Encourage involvement on boards of government, non-profit, and for-profit organizations.

Goal: Uphold the highest standards of integrity, honor, and courtesy in the legal profession.

Recognize members who uphold this portion of the mission and who are strong advocates for women in our community.

FAWL (or FAWL chapter) hereby adopts the following policy with regard to the discussion of, reference to or reporting on women in public discourse:

FAWL supports and encourages open and civil discourse of issues affecting all aspects life, including those issues that may be considered controversial in nature. FAWL opposes any reference to women or an individual woman in a gender-based prejudicial, demeaning, derogatory, or dehumanizing manner. FAWL opposes any effort to minimize the contribution of women through the use of gender-based prejudicial, demeaning, derogatory or dehumanizing descriptions of their work, words or actions. FAWL opposes any use of gender-based derogatory, demeaning, prejudicial, or dehumanizing terms related to women or their bodies or actions to describe any human being regardless of gender. FAWL opposes the unfair, unjust or inequitable stereotyping of women. FAWL opposes the use of images of women that demean, dehumanize or prejudice the contribution or actions of women or an individual woman in the media.